‘INC’s call vs. impeachment mirrors sentiment of majority of Filipinos’

“Ang panawagan ng mga kapatiran at mga kaibigan nating Iglesia Ni Cristo laban sa impeachment ay nagsasalamin ng namuong sentimento ng higit na nakararami na ayaw sa impeachment. Yan din ang isinisigaw ng mga tao sa lansangan.”

This was the reaction of Atty. Vic Rodriguez, former Executive Secretary of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to the plan of the influential church to hold rallies in response to the call of Marcos not to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte.

“Sila (INC) ang mas nag-articulate o nagpahayag ng pagiging kontra nila sa impeachment. Nagsasalamin sa damdamin ng mga tao,” Rodriguez said in an interview in Bacolod Saturday.

Rodriguez is running for senator in the 2025 midterm election as an independent candidate. “When given the mandate,” he said, he will lead “the true opposition.”

The INC, in an announcement over its Net25 TV network, said it is preparing to hold a rally to express its support to President Marcos’ stand against the impeachment of VP Sara, saying there are more pressing problems the country is facing that must be prioritized by the government, adding that the church is for peace and opposes any form of disturbance.

On the other hand, in the same Bacolod interview, Rodriguez said the ongoing House quadcomm investigation is “no longer in aid of legislatilon but in aid of political persecution.”

“Yung nagaganap na hearing sa konggreso ay political persecution. They have arrogated upon themselves the functions that are reserved exclusively to the executive department like the work of investigators. They are not law enforcement agencies, not NBI, PNP, CIDG, not prosecutors, not a trial body, agency. Hindi sila trial court. They are lawmakers, they make or amend laws ” Rodriguez said.

Let the trial courts, the Ombudsman, the Sandiganbayan prosecute those who deserve to be, Rodriguez said. He was the first executive secretary of President Marcos Jr. and held the post about three months in 2022.

He added that since the impeachment is a political exercise, the political leaning of those involved will influence their decisions.* (NDB)